Apprehension prevails in Cong after Pilot rebellion; all eyes on 'Rahul brigade'
New Delhi: After rebellions by Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh and Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan, the focus is now on Rahul Gandhi's "youth brigade" and those whom he had given key responsibilities when he was Congress president.
There is apprehension prevailing in the rank and file of the Congress after the happenings in Rajasthan, where Pilot has declared open rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government, sources said. Almost everyone in the party has just one question on their mind, "who next", they said.
"Obviously we are forced to think that when leaders who have been given a lot of responsibilities in a short span of time and whose capabilities the party was confident of using going forward, are not satisfied, then definitely something is wrong," a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) told 'PTI-Bhasha' on the condition of anonymity.
The CWC is the highest decision making body of the Congress.
Pilot and Scindia are the latest additions to the list of leaders who have raised the flag of rebellion. In the Congress, they were earlier known as members of the "Rahul brigade", the sources said.
Other leaders who were part of this brigade included former Congress Haryana unit president Ashok Tanwar, former Madhya Pradesh unit chief Arun Yadav, former Mumbai chiefs Milind Deora and Sanjay Nirupam, former Punjab Congress president Pratap Singh Bajwa, former Jharkhand unit president Ajoy Kumar and former Karnataka chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, they said.
The sources said Madhusudhan Mistry, who has been the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, former Uttar Pradesh unit president Raj Babbar and AICC general secretary in-charge Rajasthan Avinash Pande, Mohan Prakash and Deepak Babaria, are also part of the group which was seen as having the backing of Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress admitted that resentment had increased with the "Rahul brigade" getting more importance in the party, they said.
The sources said most of them showed rebellious attitude on losing their posts and alleged that most of them did not live up to the responsibility given to them and continued to encourage factionalism in the party.
Another senior Congress leader said, "Leaders who are going against the party after getting a lot in the Congress are cheating themselves. Everyone should understand that this is the time to not ask from the party, but to give back to it."
However, former Haryana Congress chief Tanwar said that the argument that leaders whom Gandhi gave responsibilities did not live up to expectations, does not hold.
